Second-Chance Mate:The Alpha Who Took What My Mate Threw Away

Chapter 9

The world narrowed to teeth and noise.

The intruder hit the floor with a shout. The wolf slammed into him a heartbeat later, jaws locking on his forearm instead of his throat. They skidded across the concrete, knocking a tool cart sideways.

I staggered back into the office, one hand on the doorframe, the other grabbing for anything heavy.

Move, Nyra snapped.

My fingers closed around the big metal flashlight on my desk. I didn’t think, I just threw.

It smashed into the man’s wrist with a solid c***k. He cursed, hand spasming open. Something small and silver flew from his grip, clinked across the floor, and disappeared under a shelf.

The wolf wrenched his head, dragging the man away from the doorway and into the bay proper. Blood splattered, dark on the concrete.

“You—i***t—” the man gasped, trying to twist free. “Control, signal—”

The wolf snarled, deep and ugly, and whatever he’d been about to say turned into a choked sound.

Even in the dim light, I saw details now: dark fur, thick over the shoulders, a familiar line of scar tissue tracing along his temple. Gold eyes, hot and fixed on his target.

“Caleb,” I breathed.

The wolf’s ears flicked. For a fraction of a second, his gaze cut to me—recognition, sharp and clear—and then snapped back to the intruder.

Riven, Nyra whispered, awed.

Outside, an engine revved. Then another. Doors slammed. Boots hit wet pavement, fast.

They’re not alone, Nyra warned.

My heart lurched. “Of course they’re not.”

The man under Caleb fumbled with his free hand, dragging a small black device from his pocket. He jabbed at a button. Somewhere outside, a high, teeth-grinding whine started.

The wolf’s ears flattened, but he didn’t back off. If anything, his weight increased, pressing the man into the concrete.

“Last chance,” the Council man panted, blood soaking his sleeve. “Come quietly, Ms. Thorn, or we take you and this animal apart and study what falls out.”

Something in me went cold and sharp.

“News flash,” I said, stepping out of the office, pulse slamming. “You don’t get to call anyone here an animal.”

His gaze snapped to me, wild and furious. “You have no idea what you are.”

“I know what you are,” I shot back. “Bad at listening.”

He lunged—not at Caleb this time, but at me. Using the wolf’s focus as cover.

He didn’t make it.

Riven moved like a spring released. He shifted his grip, jaws closing higher on the man’s arm, jerked him sideways so hard something tore with an audible pop. The man screamed, knees buckling.

The device flew from his fingers. I darted forward, snatched it up, and hurled it into the darkest corner I could find.

Outside, voices shouted.

“Unit Three, report!”

“Signal’s inside—breach the door!”

“Remember, the girl is priority. Sedate if necessary.”

Sedate.

The word punched the air out of my lungs. The white room slammed back into my head—straps, needles, my own scream stuck mute in my throat.

Not again, Nyra snarled.

Riven released the man with a final, punishing shake and turned fully toward the bay opening. He planted himself between me and the street, paws braced, fur bristling, a living wall of teeth and muscle.

The intruder crawled backward, cradling his ruined arm, eyes huge. “You’re both making a mistake,” he hissed. “She belongs in Council custody. She’s already been tagged once—”

“Shut up,” I said, voice shaking. “You don’t get to decide where I belong.”

Boots pounded closer. Flashlights sliced through the gap under the bay door, beams spearing dust motes.

Riven’s growl rose, vibrating in my ribs. He glanced back, just once, gold eyes meeting mine.

In my head, under Nyra’s harsh breathing, I heard him—Caleb—clear as speech.

Behind me, Maia.

My feet wanted to run. My knees wanted to buckle. Instead, I took one step back, until my shoulder blades hit the office wall.

The bay door shrieked as someone outside grabbed it and heaved. Light flooded in, blinding after the dim.

Silhouettes filled the opening—three, four, more—guns and syringes and badges glinting.

“Go!” someone shouted.

Riven lunged forward with a snarl that shook the air.

Heat exploded under my skin. Nyra surged up, slamming into whatever paper-thin barrier I had left.

And as the first Council enforcer crossed the threshold, my fingers curled, nails lengthening, bones burning, the world tilting—

—and my wolf finally, violently, began to break free.